How to Recover Deleted Office 365 Group Using Powershell & Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
Office 365 is the business productivity suite that provides Microsoft Office programs online. Office 365 introduces a feature called ‘Groups’ to promote collaborative tools among its users. With the help of Office 365 Group, resource sharing has become easier between users or team members.
In an organization, anyone can create groups and add people to it. So, anyone can easily share ideas and work in a group. Now, the problem arises if the Office 365 Groups are intentionally or accidentally deleted. This is when the users need a solution to recover deleted Office 365 Groups. Therefore, this blog will show you how to restore deleted Office 365 Group without any trouble. But, first, we know about the condition in which Office 365 group recovery is possible.
Table of Content
- When Recovery of Deleted Office 365 Group Is Possible?
- How to Recover Deleted Office 365 Group Manually?
- Approach #1: Restore Deleted Office 365 Group Using Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
- Approach #2: Recover Deleted Office 365 Group Via. PowerShell Command
- Approach #3 Restore a Group Using Outlook Web (for Group Owners)
- The Bottom Line
When Recovery of Deleted Office 365 Group Is Possible?
Before going to start the Office 365 group Restore process, users must know these points:
According to the Office 365 Retention Policy, the deleted groups will be available in the account for 30 days. During this period, the deleted groups are still recoverable and after that they become hard-deleted. Hence, after 30 days, it is impossible to restore the deleted Office 365 group from the account.
Note: Apart from Microsoft 365 groups, we can not restore all other groups once deleted including distribution group, security group, etc.
When you restore a Microsoft 365 Group, the following content also gets restored:
- Microsoft Entra Microsoft 365 Groups Object, Properties, & Its Members
- Group’s e-mail Addresses
- Exchange Online Shared Inbox & Calendar
- SharePoint Online Team Site and Files
- OneNote Notebook
- Planner
- Microsoft Teams
- Viva Engage Group and Group Content (If the Microsoft 365 group was created from Viva Engage)
- Power BI Classic Workspace
It is evident from the above-discussion, that users need to perform Office 365 group recovery tasks within the 30 days after the deletion. In the subsequent section, we will learn a step-by-step guide to get back the deleted Office 365 Group in the account.
Also Read: How to Share Calendar in Outlook 365?
How to Recover Deleted Office 365 Group Manually?
There are two manual solutions to restore any Office 365 deleted group. One method uses Exchange admin center and another is by using Windows PowerShell command.
Approach #1: Restore Deleted Office 365 Group Using Exchange Admin Center (EAC)
Step 1. Initially, provide the credentials and log into your Office 365 account.
Step 2. Next, go to the Office 365 admin center.
Step 3. After that, from the left side panel, click on Admin Centers to see other options. Choose Exchange Admin Center (EAC) from the menu as shown below:
Step 4. The Exchange admin center will display on the screen. Select the Recipients option from the left sidebar and then go to the Groups tab.
Step 5. Now you can see the list of groups along with their status. The status provides the information that a group is Active or Deleted. If Recover Deleted Office 365 Group is not available in the list, then it has been permanently removed and cannot be recovered.
Step 6. You can select any temporarily deleted group and view the details of its deletion like date & time on the right side of the page.
Step 7. Now, choose a group that you want to recover and then click on the Restore icon adjacent to the Edit icon to restore deleted Office 365 Group.
Step 8. Once you have done with the above step, click on the Refresh icon to update the page. Now, you can see that the deleted group status changes to Active.
Approach #2: Recover Deleted Office 365 Group Via. PowerShell Command
To perform this manual procedure to Restore Deleted Office 365 Group, it is mandatory to download and install the latest version of Azure ADM (or Active Directory Module). It is not possible to install both GA and Preview versions in the same instance on the same device. Now, follow the below instructions to get the new version of AzureAD:
Tip:- It is recommended to use the latest version of AzureADPreview and uninstall the older one.
Step1: Installation Process
- Type Windows PowerShell in the search box to get the option of Windows PowerShell. Right-click on the option and then choose Run as administrator option.
2. As soon as you select the option, a window will appear on the screen. It prompts C:\Windows\system32 on the window, it means that you launch the command window as admin.
3. Next, check the installed module by using the command.
Get-InstalledModule -Name "AzureAD*"
4. After that, execute the below-mentioned command, to delete any older version of AzureAD Preview or AzureAD.
Uninstall-Module AzureAD or Uninstall-Module AzureADPreview
5. Now, run the following command to install the latest AzureADPreview version,
Install-Module AzureADPreview
6. If any message flashes on the command window regarding “untrusted repository”, then type Y. After a few minutes, a new module gets installed.
7. Now you can proceed to further Steps to recover deleted Office 365 Group.
Step 2: Restore Deleted Office 365 Group Via Powershell
1. Run the Windows PowerShell window on your system.
(Note: Please Right Click & Run as Administrator)
Then, execute the following command
Connect-AzureAD
2. After executing the command, a Microsoft Sign In Windows appears, then Enter your Office 365 credentials. Then click on the Sign in button.
3. Then, Run command :
Get-AzureADMSDeletedGroup
As soon as you execute the command, it will show the deleted Office 365 groups that can be recoverable.
4. Then, find out the object ID from the above Table Field ID. If the group that you wish to restore is not there, then it must have been permanently deleted.
Note:- Any new group should not be created on the same SMTP address as the deleted Office 365 group. In such cases only, you can Recover Deleted Office 365 Group that are previously deleted
5. If you found the Office 365 group(s) that are going to be restored, then run the below-mentioned command,
Restore-AzureADMSDeletedDirectoryObject –Id
6. The restoration process is completed in a few minutes or sometimes it takes several hours. If you want to check the groups that have been restored or not, run this command,
Get-AzureADGroup –ObjectId
You can now check all the restored groups will get back in Outlook or the OWA navigation panel. Also, the members of a group will be able to access all the restored files.
Approach #3 Restore a Group Using Outlook Web (for Group Owners)
If you’re the owner of an Office 365 group, then you can easily restore the group yourself using Outlook on the web, follow the below steps:
- Step 1. Log in to Outlook on the web.
- Step 2. Click on “Groups” in the navigation pane.
- Step 3. Under “Groups,” select “Manage groups” and then choose “Deleted.”
- Step 4. Locate the group you want to restore from the list of deleted groups.
- Step 5. Click on the “Restore” button next to the desired group name.
If you are unable to find the deleted Office 365 group then you might need to contact a Microsoft 365 administrator for assistance.
Imagine A Scenario
Once you have recovered the deleted Microsoft 365 groups, what if you need to migrate them to another tenant? In this case, you might be wondering about the right way for it. To ensure a safe and error-free data transfer, it is suggested to utilize the Most Secure and Reliable Office 365 to Office 365 Migration Software. It can easily and safely transfer data from one tenant to another in Office 365, including emails, contacts, calendars, and tasks.
The Bottom Line
Deletion of Microsoft 365 groups can happen accidentally or intentionally at any time. So, it is better to know about the Office 365 Group recovery methods. Therefore, this blog provided a proper guideline for restoring the deleted Office 365 Group. So, the users can easily recover deleted groups from the MS Office 365 account.